


New Perspective

by risottoneros



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25615573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risottoneros/pseuds/risottoneros
Summary: Elias gets promoted to the Head of the Magnus Institute.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44





	New Perspective

**Author's Note:**

> MAJOR SPOILERS! I would recommend NOT reading this unless you are caught up to mag 158 at the LEAST.

_You’re aging, Jonah,_ the mirror said. 

_You are getting older, and your body is beginning to shut down. Every moment you breathe is a moment closer to your death. You will crumble to dust, and you_ will _die._ Those words took his mind captive when he looked in the mirror at his aging face. He ran his fingers over the deep wrinkles forming around his features as his skin began to sag. A constant reminder of his limited time. It disgusted him. 

This body had once been young, just like all the previous bodies he had had. Though no matter how hard he tried, they had all, unfortunately, aged. Jonah used the power he had been granted by the eye to keep the bodies he inhabited fresh, at least for a while. But they all eventually started to age, even if it had been at a slightly slower pace than that of a normal human. This body was no different, and it had now begun to show signs that it was to be discarded, and that Jonah needed to find a new host.

James Wright had been good to him. His handsome features, now warped with age, had once been a source of pride for Jonah. He glanced over to a picture on the wall, taken when James had been in his late twenties. The disparity between the attractive man he saw in that picture and the way he felt when looking at himself now filled him with bitterness. The feeling of dread he felt about aging had slowly been building over the last couple of years, along with the envy he felt for his younger coworkers.

It was today that Jonah decided he needed to pursue a new body. Not because today was special, but because it just so happened to be today that the fear of his imminent doom caught up to him again for the first time in 25 years. 

There were a few good young men in the Magnus Institute he could choose from, though he had been eyeing one in particular for a while. A young filing clerk by the name of Elias Bouchard. He had been at the Institute for a few years now, and possessed a body and face that Jonah was quite interested in. He was tall, with a rather stocky build, and a friendly air about him, which his features and demeanor complimented well. Though Jonah couldn’t care less about his personality. The only thing that mattered was his physical form. And, compared to the other men in the institute, Jonah preferred Elias’s the most. 

Jonah spotted Elias talking to another young coworker, who seemed very disinterested in the lighthearted conversation he was trying to have with her as she tried to work. She rubbed her temple as he started to ask her if she liked movies. 

She looked up at Jonah as he came into the room with relief.

“Oh hello Mr. Wright,” she said loudly, alerting Elias to his presence. He looked to Jonah with surprise and guilt. Caught in the act. 

“Hello,” Jonah said, grinning at Elias, “I just came in to check up on business.”

“Oh, uh… Hi boss!” Elias smiled guiltily. He had been talking at his coworker’s desk for about 20 minutes now, and Jonah made sure Elias knew that _he_ knew that fact.

“Everything is going smoothly I hope?” 

“Yeah, I was just- uh…” Elias looked around frantically to find something he could pretend to be busy with, “...working.”

“Well, I assume you two are _very_ busy.” Jonah flashed a look to Elias, “I just wanted to stop in and say hello. I won’t keep you.” With that he promptly left, leaving Elias feeling seen through. Elias worked well the rest of the day, hoping not to get caught goofing off again. 

Jonah called Elias to his office later that day. 

There was a light knock at the door, and Jonah looked up from his desk at Elias, his expression one of slight worry.

“You, uh… wanted to see me, boss?” Elias said, his tone reflecting the obvious fear that he was in trouble based on earlier events. 

“Yes, come in,” Jonah gestured to a seat in front of his desk. Elias took it. 

Elias looked around his boss’s office, at all the portraits of the previous Heads of the Institute. They all looked back at him, grinning with the same smile that spread across on James Wright’s face in front of him. 

“You’re not getting fired, Elias,” Jonah said, and Elias exhaled a small sigh of relief, “I wanted to call you here to ask you a bit of a favor. I’m looking for a personal assistant, and was wondering if you could fill the role.”

Elias blinked a bit in surprise, “Me?”

“Yes. I’m very busy, as you know, and I'm not quite as sharp as I used to be. I could use an extra set of hands, and eyes, to help me with my work. I wanted someone with a bit of experience in the Institute for the job. You’d be paid more than your current position, of course.” Elias’s eyes lit up at that last sentence. There was a small, awkward moment of silence in which the ticking of a clock was the only noise. 

“Well?” Jonah asked. 

Elias blinked. “O-oh! Uh, sure,” he said cheerily, “I’d be happy to help.” Jonah grinned.

“Thank you, Elias. You’ll start tomorrow.” He shook his hand and with that his fate was, more or less, sealed. 

So for a couple of months, Elias Bouchard was James Wright’s assistant. Jonah put him to work on small, meaningless tasks, and tried to keep his real motives a secret. Gertrude was sharp, though, and was suspicious about Elias’s promotion almost immediately. 

The other Institute employees weren’t as quick to get suspicious as Gertrude, but as they saw Elias less and less, some began to get worried. Jonah began to worry about how many people might notice if Elias’s personality were to change. Because of this, Jonah attempted to drill certain pieces of... _advice_ in Elias’s head. 

“You won’t have time for people like that when you’re at the top. They’re a bad influence on you,” Jonah would say over and over again. His hope being that if he said it enough, eventually Elias would start to believe him. 

After a while, people stopped asking to see Elias.

As far as the actual work, Jonah could tell Elias didn’t much like it. He found it rather repetitive and pointless, but it wasn’t like Jonah needed to keep him entertained. He just needed to keep him ignorant. And that he did. Elias was none the wiser, even as Jonah offered him a job as the new Head of the Institute. Elias was surprised, sure, but not suspicious. Well, he had never really been the smartest…

Jonah began to ‘train’ him in his new duties as Head of the Institute. Half of the useless drabble Jonah was giving him went over his head, but he didn’t need Elias to actually understand how to run the Magnus Institute. Jonah’s only goal was to avert suspicion and make Elias think he was actually getting the job. 

Besides telling him useless info about what he would be doing if he was actually going to become the Head of the Institute, Jonah attempted to push Elias towards other goals as well. He pointed out small details in his dress that ‘made him look sloppy’, and insisted that if he were to take over his job, Elias would need to get some better clothes. 

“You would look good in a nice vest and tie,” Jonah would say.

“What color?” Elias would say.

* * *

Elias came into Jonah’s office late, his hair and coat wet from the steady shower outside. 

“Sorry boss, I, uh… misplaced my umbrella,” Elias half-laughed as he closed the door behind him. Jonah pulled a small key from a drawer in his desk and stood up. Elias didn’t notice this as he hung his coat up. 

“I have… one last thing I need to show you before you’re ready for the role of Head of the Institute,” Jonah said. Elias turned to face him now, his eyes widened with curiosity and apprehension. 

“Just… one thing?” 

“Just one,” Jonah’s eyes sparkled. His excitement building as Elias began to get more nervous.

“...What is it?”

Jonah pushed a filing cabinet to the side and moved the carpet underneath to reveal a hatch in the floor. Jonah wasn’t even looking at Elias but he could tell he was beginning to become afraid. The feeling gave Jonah a sense of sick satisfaction that he hadn’t felt in years. A smile spread across his face and he looked to Elias. Jonah then stuck the key into the lock and turned until it clicked. 

“Where does that lead?” Elias asked slowly.

“That’s what I want to show you,” Jonah said, opening the hatch, “Follow me.”

Elias had never really been the smartest… For all the thoughts in his mind telling him it was a bad idea to follow his boss into a creepy dark tunnel under the building they worked in, there was still an aching curiosity in him. To see and find out. He pushed his fear aside, trying to rationalize the situation, and he stupidly followed.

Elias knew the work the Magnus Institute did as well as anyone else who worked there. They dealt with ghosts and the supernatural, but he had never believed in such things himself. Sure, some weird stuff might happen around the Institute that he could easily pass off as spirits, but he had always been able to convince himself that it had a perfectly rational explanation and years of working at the Institute had given him a bias. 

Elias had had plenty of ‘weird feelings’, but none quite as strong as he felt in the tunnels under the Magnus Institute. The whole situation had put him a bit on edge, but beyond that, he felt like the tunnels themselves hated him. It gave him a feeling that reminded him of the dreams in which he would show up to school in his underwear. Shame. Fear. Judgment. His boss was in front of him, leading the way, his back turned to Elias, though he could not shake the feeling that James was somehow watching his every step. Teachers may say they have eyes on the back of their heads, but Elias had never really believed that until now.

Jonah led Elias through the tunnels, taking turns whenever he felt like it, making sure to get far enough into the tunnels that if anyone had seen the hatch and decided to follow, they’d be too far gone to hear the scream. 

Once Jonah was satisfied with how far they had walked, he stopped abruptly, and turned around to face Elias. 

“S-something wrong?” Elias stuttered.

Jonah took a step closer to Elias and put a hand on his shoulder. “Did you bring a change of shirt, like I asked you?” he asked him, staring deep into his fearful eyes.

“Yes… I did, though I don’t know why you wanted me to-” Elias froze as Jonah pulled a large knife from a pocket in his suit. 

“What-” Elias whispered, but was interrupted again when Jonah moved the knife to his throat. The fingers on Jonah’s other hand dug into Elias’s shoulder as he tried to push the taller man down into a kneeling position. Elias, though reluctant, eventually gave way to his superior’s firm guidance. 

Elias had trusted James. But he was quickly learning that the path he had been leading him down was not the path of success, like he had thought. The shock froze him in place, and his will to fight back was quickly failing. His only thought as the man he trusted more than his own father held a knife to his throat, grinning, was ‘ _why?_ ’ Did he do something wrong?

“What did I ever do to you?” Elias whispered.

“Nothing,” Jonah smiled, “You were just unfortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.”

Jonah moved his hand that had been on Elias’s shoulder to his throat, and began choking him with as much strength as the body he inhabited could muster. Elias tried to splutter something, but couldn’t, and could only attempt to pry off Jonah’s grip. 

Jonah placed the knife he had brought between his teeth, and now extended the free hand towards Elias’s face. He promptly shoved his fingers deep into Elias’s eye socket. Elias struggled as he felt Jonah’s fingers wrap around his eyeball and aggressively pull it out of his skull. Elias’s right eye watched it’s now displaced partner fall to the ground, and then it watched as Jonah raised his hand to his own face. Elias struggled harder, but was defenseless as Jonah then pulled his own left eye out of James Wright’s head, and placed it into the hole he had left in Elias’s face. 

The displaced eye of Jonah Magnus swiveled in Elias’s skull, looking around at the new perspective it had placed itself into. It could see James Wright, it’s previous host, and Jonah’s other eye could see Elias Bouchard, it’s new host. 

Elias met Jonah now. The voice in his head now had another voice to talk to; a voice that wasn’t his. The voice said “I am Jonah Magnus, the Head, Heart, and Soul of this Institute. You’d best not struggle too much, because it only makes it worse for you. Now move over, let me take it from here. I promise it won’t hurt.” Elias felt his grip on James’s hand loosen as Jonah’s consciousness extended itself into his nerves and muscles. 

Elias attempted to scream, but Jonah was already removing his other eye. 

...

Jonah blinked. He looked at his new hands. They were bigger than James’s had been, and the skin was fresh and taught and didn’t sag. He curled his fingers into a fist, trying to get a sense for the body he was now operating. He looked down at his shirt, which was now covered in blood. His blood. Or at least, it was his blood _now_. 

James Wright lay in a crumpled heap on the floor, twitching, his original consciousness slowly returning to his body. He still held the knife, which Jonah quickly took from his hand. James moaned.

“Where… am I?” James asked, placing a hand on his own head as he began to stand up.

Jonah didn’t give him a response before he pushed him to the floor, which was surprisingly easy now. Elias had been a good choice. 

James struggled, but he was not fast enough to stop Jonah from jamming the knife into his throat. Jonah left him there, still squirming like a snake with its head cut off. He didn’t need to watch him die. 

* * *

“How was work today, honey?” Elias’s girlfriend asked from the living room when he opened the door to his flat. 

“Your parents called. They wanted to congratulate you on the promotion,” she said as she walked over to the front door to greet him. She then cupped his face in her hands as if she were about to kiss him, but she paused.

“You look a bit different…” she said, “Oh! Are those colored contacts?”


End file.
